Fingerprint From Cable Box Used to Make Arrest in 2003 Cold Case Killing of Georgia Man, Police Say

An 18-year-old cold case was reopened after Georgia detectives used fingerprints to lead them to a suspect in South Carolina, according to police. Alvin Barfield, 46, was taken into custody in January in connection to the murder of Albert Carter Woolfolk, who was fatally stabbed over 20 times and later strangled in his home after leaving a bar with three men, WJCL reported.

Woolfolk was found at his home by his mother and a house worker around 10:30 a.m. on July 18, the Ledger-Enquirer reported. Investigators determined that the victim had been killed in the early hours of July 17, 2003, after leaving a local Columbus bar around midnight.

A large television was stolen from the victim's home that night, leaving behind the cable box, which was found toppled over. At the time, Police were able to take a fingerprint from a cable box in Woolfolk's apartment, but it did not match to Woolfolk or anyone in his family. 

Cold case detective Stuart Carter was assigned to the case in 2016. After putting the case aside to work on other homicides, Carter in August returned to Woolfolk's case and asked a crime scene technician to run the fingerprints through an FBI database, according to reports.

This time, police said they were able to find a match to Barfield's right, middle-finger –– whose fingerprint was later added to the system for an unrelated arrest, according to reports.

Carter and fellow detective Matt Sitler traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to find the suspect.

Barfield spoke to detectives but denied ever knowing Woolfolk and being in his home that evening, according to the Enquirer. In an interview, he said he lived in Columbus in 2003 working as a furniture salesman, police said.

After receiving a warrant on Dec. 30, U.S. Marshals picked up Barfield at his home on Jan. 21, according to the Enquirer. He was booked to the Muscogee County Jail in Georgia on Feb. 2, according to reports. A judge found probable cause to hold Barfield without bond while the case is pending in the Muscogee Superior Court.

After the preliminary court hearing Friday, Jennifer Curry, an attorney for Barfield, questioned the validity of the fingerprint match and whether it was sufficient to charge him with murder, the Enquirer reported. Curry also mentioned in the court hearing that her client did not attempt to flee from authorities when they questioned him.

Barfield pleaded not guilty, according to the Enquirer.

Police have yet to identify a second fingerprint recovered from the crime scene. Carter said that it is "unlikely" one man could have lifted that large of a television screen.

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